Ultra Nyan: Hoshizora kara Maiorita Fushigi Neko

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Ultra Nyan! Yes, Orphan Fansubs once again delves into its feline obsession to bring you the first of two OVAs about Ultra Nyan, the interstellar cat come to Earth from planet Felis to spread a message of interspecies peace and harmony. First up is 1997's Ultra Nyan: Hoshizora kara Maiorita Fushigi Neko (Ultra Nyan: The Mysterious Cat that Descended from the Starry Sky, or something like that). It's labeled a movie, even though it's only 30 minutes long, because it was released theatrically, as part of a twin bill with Ultraman Zeas 2 Superman Great War: Light and Shadow.

Ultra Nyan is a kodomo (all ages) tale about a young girl named Haruka and the cats in her neighborhood: the Professor, an elderly gray cat; Momo, a lovely Persian; Anko, a plump calico mama-cat with two kittens, and Kosuke, a greenish Siamese. Haruka doesn't have a cat, because she lives in an apartment complex that forbids them. One day, she finds a stray and names it Nyan (the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat's meow). 

Little does she know that her stray is actually Ultra Nyan, who has come from outer space with mysterious powers to share happiness with Earth... well, with Earth's cats, actually. Together with her friends and the town's cats, Haruka and Ultra Nyan must foil the plans of a couple of dastardly cat-nappers. Everything ends happily, of course, as G-rated cartoons generally do.

The voice cast includes:

• Kamei Yoshiko (Nyan) is probably best known for playing the title role in Rerere no Tensai Bakabon and Gema in the Di Gi Charat franchise. She has had featured roles in Magical Meow Meow Taruto and Tiger and Bunny.
• Oshitani Mei (Haruka) appeared in only a few other shows, including Junkers Come Here.
• The late Kondou Reiko (Kosuke) also had relatively few credits, including Lupin III Part 3 and Ninku. She died in 2007.
• The late Kitamura Koichi (Professor) played Paolon, the intelligent spaceship in Hi-Speed Jecy, and appeared in Hidamari no Ki and Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou; all are Orphan releases. He also died in 2007.
• Sadaoka Sayuri (Anko) appeared in many shows, including Wolf's Rain, Detective Conan, Tiger and Bunny, Kuroshitsuji, and Usagi Drop.
• Hikami Kyoko (Momo) played the title role in Hello Kitty, the female lead in Sakura Diaries, and one of the three leads in Wedding Peach. She also played Cyberdoll Sara in Hand Maid Mai, one of Orphan's first releases.

The director, Tokita Hiroko, has numerous other directing credits, including Hiatari Ryouko, Yawara!, Miracle Girls, Mizuiro Jidai, and Yami no Mitsui.

This project was a bit of a bluebird, triggered by finding second-hand media for both Ultra Nyan movies on Yahoo Auctions. For this first one, though, we're using ARR's release as a base while we wait for a laserdisc of the show to be shipped from Japan. Sunachan checked and corrected ARR's translation, ninjacat (well, ninjacloud) fixed up the timing, I edited and typeset, and VigorousJammer and new staffer Topper3000 did QC. We'll release a second version when Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions receives and encodes the laserdisc.

So here's a lightweight bonbon for all the cat fanciers in Orphan's audience (and on its staff). You can get Ultra Nyan: Hoshizora kara Maiorita Fushigi Neko from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.